New York Times, Wednesday, May 20, 2015

When I first saw this puzzle's edited version, 57-Across (PIESPIESPIES) had me genuinely stumped until I figured out the twist Will had added. (My clue: "Movie sequel in which a shipwrecked boy catches sight of baked goods?".)

Also new and welcome was the "Simpsons" reference in the clue for 33-Across (ABELABELABEL), originally the rather nonsensical "President Lincoln, put a nametag on Cain's brother!'?".

For the record, I briefly considered another sitcom-themed answer: IDERIDERIDER (Motto for one heckling "Boy Meets World" actor Strong?).

Loved this; themers that look like three repeated words but can be parsed in kooky ways. VIS A VIS VISA was readily apparent, as was ABE LABEL ABEL. But it took me a while to figure out what RIDERIDERIDE should become. What a fun division in RIDER I DERIDE. Similar hijinks in PIESPIESPIES, which I originally thought was the odd and repetitive PIE SPIES PIES. Not so! PI ESPIES PIES is brilliant.

Some strong clues too:

• [What "is" is] for VERB made me think of those crazy repeated word sentences like "James, while John had had ‘had', had had ‘had had'; ‘had had' had had a better effect on the teacher."
• I haven't needed a good EAR-lowering since I started shaving my head.
• The "Mark twain" is a measurement for DEPTH? Apparently so! Now, what should the Jeff chen measure? (Don't answer that.)

Now, I would have liked some more long fill in this puzzle. This is a tougher task than for a typical four-theme entry puzzle, because of the themers' 12-letter lengths. Normally, you'd be able to take out the black square between DOG and JIBE to make an eight-letter slot, but no dice today since that square is necessary to finish off VISAVISAVISA. Same goes with the black square between CLASSY and ADAM.

There's room to explore blowing up the black square between MARSHAL and DONS, but that does make for a bigger space to fill in the west and east. And shifting black squares around in the center is a real possibility, but that would likely mean redoing the entire puzzle.

Still, the grid does contain a little zip with PRAIRIE / DOG, MARSHAL, even a SPLAT and a SPUME. And it is nice and bereft of gluey bits (aside from IRAE, maybe PSA too) — what a 78-word puzzle ought to be.

A trait of a great puzzle is that it makes me want to think about it further. So much fun to wrestle with these themers; I'd love to find more.

In only his seventh NYT crossword, Jacob Stulberg has already established himself as an extraordinarily creative constructor. His previous puzzles have included Five Golden Rings and the clever two pints make a quart. He gave us a cubist Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 and then cracked me up with a reference to the classic Who's on First. He even classed up the puzzle page with a lovely William Carlos Williams poem. Today's theme is yet another innovation. Bravo.